Conventionally, in the case of a hydrocephalus surgical shunt installation procedure with the ventricular catheter located approximately at the top of the patient's skull, three incisions are typically required to install the hydrocephalus shunt. FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of incision locations performed in a traditional hydrocephalus shunt installation procedure. Referring to FIG. 1, the incision locations applied to a patient during a hydrocephalus shunt surgical installation procedure are generally indicated by 100. The box shapes at the incision locations are intended to indicate the general area of the incisions, rather than the shape or size of the incisions. These three incisions, which can be made in any order, are located at the patient's scalp forming a first incision 101, abdomen forming a second incision 102, and at the patient's neck forming a third incision 103. Once the incisions are made the shunt tubing is subcutaneously tunneled from the abdomen incision 102 to the third incision 103, using, for example, a long trocar, which may also be referred to as a tunneler, and/or inserter, and/or introducer and/or cannula, and which may contain a stylet. Then the shunt tubing is further manually subcutaneously tunneled by common surgical hand tools, such as forceps, from the third incision 103 to the first incision 101 forming a complete and continuous subcutaneous path between the first and second incisions. The third incision 103 is generally required because of the extreme curvilinearity of the path between the first and second incisions 101 and 102, and prevents direct tunneling between the first and second incisions with a typical semi-rigid, manipulatable trocar/tunneling instrument for passage overcoming the nuchal line. It is advantageous to minimize the number of incisions required to perform the surgical procedure in order to minimize bodily trauma, the possibility of infection, and recovery time. It is noted that performance of the steps are not necessarily performed in a fixed sequence of steps but as to the most convenient and judgment of the user.
Therefore, there exists a desire for a surgical tool that allows a surgeon to route a shunt drainage tube between the first and second incisions without the necessity of the third incision to both increase surgical productivity and minimize patient trauma.